2016 Domaine Bouchard Pere et Fils, Echezeaux Grand Cru 6x75cl

Vinous 90-92

(as Bouchard lost 90% of their fruit in En Orveaux, this year’s wine was made almost entirely from purchased fruit from vines worked by the Bouchard team, located below the premier cru Vosne-Romanée Les Rouges): Good red-ruby color. Sexy, inviting scents of candied dark berries, raspberry, mocha and licorice. Then fat, plush and fine-grained but not as sweet as the nose suggests; there’s even something a bit roasted here. Finishes with decent acidity and solid structure but comes across as rather disjointed today and hard to assess. Winemaker Weber says he may have used too high a percentage of whole clusters and gotten too much stem tannins as a result. (Incidentally, in 2017 Bouchard will have two different bottlings of Echézeaux, one domain and one négoce.) [Stephen Tanzer, 01/01/2018]